Locomotive track-sander.



, JLB. HANLQN. y IIOJOJMIOTIVE TRACK SANDER. APPLICATION FILED JDLY28,1910.

986, 1 68 Patented Mar. 7, 1911."

JOHN H. I-IANLON, 0F SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

LOCOMOTIVE TRACK-SANDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 28, 1910.

Patented Mar. '7, 1911.

Serial No. 574,3202

T o all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN I-I. HANLON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inLocomotive Track-Sanders, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates particularly to means for preventing the airdischarge nozzle of a pneumatic track sander from becoming clogged byscale, oil, or other foreign substances such as are frequently presentin the air pipe which supplies air to the air discharge nozzle of thesander. Heretofore in devices of this character, very considerabledifficulty and annoyance has resulted because scale from the air pipes,and main res1 ervoir, and particles of oil and dust from the air pump,and similar substances have been forced into the air discharge nozzleand i Vthere accumulated until the air discharge nozzle has becomeclogged and the track sander rendered wholly inoperative. The work ofcleaning the air discharge nozzle has been considerable and hasnecessitated taking apart the device, and as this work cannot be donewhile the locomotive is in motion, it has frequently resulted that thelocomotive has been without any sandingdevice for considerable periodsof time. I-Ieretofore various devices have been employed to preventforeign substances reaching the air discharge nozzle but it has been myexperience that these devices themselves soon become clogged and likelyto stop the flow of air to the air discharge nozzle.

My present invention consists in locating a screen in such a positionwith relation to the conduits supplying air to the air pipe that theforeign substances inthe air pipe do not in general lodge upon the saidscreen so that the said screen rarely or never requires to be cleaned.

My invention further consists in providing means by which the screenmay, if necessary, be removed and cleaned without disturbing the airnozzle.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novelfeatures will be pointed out and clearly defined in the claims at theclose of the specification.

In the drawings,-Figure 1 is a longitudi;

nal section of a nozzle of a track sander embodying my presentinvention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig.3 is an end view of the screen. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of thescreen chamber with the screen removed. Fig. 5 is an end view of thesleeve B showing t-he shape of the locking' cam. Fig. 6 is a section ofa device embodying my present invention and intended for use where it isdesirable to locate the screen at a distance from the air nozzle.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Fig. l: At A isshown the wall of the sandbox and at B a sleeve which is driven into ahole in the sand-box and remains there permanently. AThis sleeve isadapted to receive the nozzle C and to hold the same in place by theengagement of the cam D with the hook E. This construction has beenpreviously patented by me and is such as to permit the rapid removal ofthe air discharge nozzle by rotating it slightly on its longitudinalaxis to disengage the hook from the cam after which the nozzle may bepulled out. The air discharge nozzle C is in general cylindrical inshape and has an orifice F at its inner end through which the airescapes to operate the sand-er. The interior of the air discharge nozzleto the rearward of the orifice F is bored out to a diameter slightlylarger than the said orifice F, this portion of thenozzle beine* shownat Gr. At the extreme rear end (that is the end on the right hand side,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) is formed a cavity or chamber II of stilllarger diameter and which for convenience I term the screen chamber. Therear end of said screen chamber is preferably closed by a screw plug Iwhich is of standard forni and is shown in Fig. l. Opening into thescreen chamber II and preferably on the under side thereof is a passagewhich is connected to the air pipe L leading to the source of supply. Inthis screen chamber II is located a flat metallic screen M which restson four lugs N (see Figs. l and 4) being held against them by a spring Oguided on a -stem P which is secured to the said screen M.

It will be seen that one end of the spring O rests against the screen Mwhile the other end rest-s against the inside of the screw plug I sothat when the screw plug I is screwed into place it holds the screen Mseated firmly against the lugs N. The objectvofthe lugs N is to increaseto the largest extent possible the effective screening sui'- face of thescreen which would be diminished if the screen rested directly against acontinuous seat formed in the screen chambei'.

It will be seen that the screen M is located substantially on a linewith the left hand wall of the air pipe L. This location is veryimportant because it permits any impurities, such as scale or the like,which enter the screen chamber H through the air pipe L, to fallbackinto the air pipe L when the supf plyof air is cut off by 4the closingof the engineers valve.

I find in practice that particles of hard mattei, such as scale do notlodge against the screen when the screen is located as described' butare thrown violently against the top of the screen chamber and then dropback into the pipe, this being repeated whenever the sander is turned onand shut oit. It results that particles of scale become broken up orworn down until they are of a size to pass through the screen and theair discharge nozzle without clogging either of them. I also believethat the irst rush of air into the screen chamber coming as it does froma passage which is parallel to the plane of the screen, tends to blowfrom the screen any particles which have remained there and to carrythem against the roof of the screen chamber when they either stick ordrop back into the air pipe when the air is shut off. I also find thatthe nozzle embodying my present invention may be run for a long timewithout becoming` clogged and that the necessity of cleaning the nozzleis much less frequent than when nozzles of ordinary construction areemployed. In fact it has been my experience that the screen almost neverrequires to be cleaned. It, however, it becomes necessary to clean thenozzle, it may be done by removing the plug I after which the screen Mmay be pulled out by the spring I attached thereto.

Vhile I have shown and described my screen as employed in combinationwith a horizontal air discharge nozzle and a vertical conduit leading tothe nozzle and located below it, I do not wish to limit myselt' to thislocation of the parts, although I believe it to be by tar the bestarrangement of them.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a device embodying my invention which may belocated at a distance from the air nozzle when that is desirable. Itconsists of a screen chamber R in which is located a screen S held inplace by a spring T and plug V. The air pipe IV enters the screenchamber R just behind the screen S, and the pipe T leads to the airnozzle (not shown). This form of' the device embodying my inventionoperates in the same manner as previously described.

lhat I claim is l. In a pneumatic track sander the combination of asubstantially horizontal conduit leading to an air nozzle, a screenlocated in said conduit and a second conduit entering said first conduitat a point just behind said screen and substantially parallel to saidscreen.

2. In a pneumatic track sander the combination of a horizontal conduitleading to an air nozzle, a screen vertically located in said horizontalconduit and a vert-ical conduit entering' said horizontal conduit at apoint just behind said screen and parallel thereto.

3. In a pneumatic track sander the combination of a horizontal conduitleading to an air nozzle, a screen vertically located in said horizontalconduit and a vertical conduit entering said horizontal conduit frombelow at a point just behind said screen and parallel thereto.

et. In a pneumatic track sander the combination of a horizontal conduitleading to an air nozzle, a screen vertically located in said horizontalconduit., a plurality of lugs supporting said screen and a pipe enteringsaid horizontal conduit at a point just behind said screen andsubstantially parallel thereto.

5. In a pneumatic track sander the combination of a conduit leading toan air nozzle, a screen in said conduit, a second conduit entering saidfirst mentioned conduit at a point just behind said screen andsubstantially at rightangles thereto and a plug in an opening oppositethe end of said first mentioned conduit and behind said screen throughwhich opening said screen may be removed.

G. In a pneumatic track sander, a member having a passage therethroughleading to an air discharge nozzle, a screen chamber therein connectedwith said passage, a screen within said screen chamber, a plug formingthe wall of the screen chamber opposite to the said screen, a springhaving one end resting against the said screen and the'other end restingagainst said plug, and a second conduit entering said screen chamberbetween said plug and said screen.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. HANLON.

lVit-nesses GEORGE P. Dimi, ALICE H. MORRISON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

